I do not own My Hero Academia or JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
It's U.A. Baby! FUCKING FINALLY!
Wind rushed past Izuku as he flew through the air, blowing through his clothes and hair. It roared in his ear and stung his eyes. If this was going to be something he did often, maybe he should add goggles to his hero costume. The buzz of his quirk pulled him from his thoughts, and let him know that the ground was quickly rising up to meet him. He hit the sand with a roll and quickly sprang to his feet in one fluid motion.
"How was that?" Izuku asked between pants.
"GREAT!" Yagi-san said in English as he gave a thumbs up, "That was pretty much perfect. Just like the last couple ones."
"You don't have any advice for how I could improve?" Izuku asked, slightly disappointed.
"Just that you should wear long sleeves in the future." Yagi-san pointed to the red marks along Izuku's arms from where the sand rubbed his skin raw, "But, your hero costume should protect you from that. Face it, young Midoriya, you've basically mastered this move."
"Th-thanks." Izuku stammered, he still didn't know how to take compliments. Or maybe is was Yagi-san's, All Might's, compliments specifically he got nervous over, "But, I still feel like I could be doing more."
"Of course you can! You've barely started, you have your whole career ahead of you." Yagi-san said, "But you've still come incredibly far in just two months. And all without any proper teaching. No, I don't count, Midoriya. I've never taught a day in my life before we started."
Izuku's mouth snapped shut. He had to admit, Yagi-san was right. He had come far. Literally as well as figuratively, he thinks as he looks at the point where he had thrown himself from. It was fifty meters away. Recently, they had to move their training spot from the forest back to Dagobah Beach (Though, that meant they had to train at some odd hours, since there were people visiting the beach again now). There just wasn't enough open space in the woods anymore with how far he had been throwing himself lately. Maybe he had mastered throwing himself with his quirk.
But... would it be enough to get into U.A.?
He expressed his concern to Yagi-san, but the older man didn't seem worried, "Of course you'll get in. Your quirk's strong, and like I said before, you've got the heart of hero. You might not think that'll matter, but trust me, it will." Yagi-san said knowingly.
"I'm just worried that everyone else is going to be able to use their quirks better. Since I've barely used mine." Izuku said quietly. He felt oddly angry at himself. He's pretty much handicapped himself by refusing to use Holding Out out of fear of losing control. And now that he finally started using it, he was having no problems with it at all. How much more skilled would he be, how much more could he do, if he hadn't sealed that part of his quirk away for so long?
"Well, you probably won't be first in your class, but I have zero doubts that you'll make it into U.A." Yagi-san said with the same confidence that he always extruded as All Might. And just like with All Might's reassuring smile and presence, it makes Izuku feel like everything will be alright.
"Yagi-san... Th-thank you." Izuku said as tears streamed down his face, "You've done so much to help me! I-I couldn't have done this without your help!" He cried.
By now, Yagi-san was pretty used to Izuku and his mother bursting into tears, and no longer felt awkward around them when they did. So, he just calmly patted the teen's shoulder while he waited for Izuku to stop crying. It didn't take very long. The Midoriyas had always been quick to start crying and were usually quick to stop, unless they were truly distraught.
"I only helped so much. Most of this was your own work." Yagi-san said once Izuku's tears stopped, "If you keep up this level of dedication, you'll do fine."
"Right... In that case. I'll work even harder!" Izuku said with a fire in his eyes. Bringing out Holding Out, he got back into position, "Let's practice more! I'll cram for the entrance exam!"
"You don't want to push yourself too hard. If you wear yourself out, or worse, hurt yourself, it could have a negative impact on your performance tomorrow." Yagi-san said.
"Oh. Yeah, you've got a point." Izuku frowned, "Maybe just a few more times, just to make sure I have it down."
"You really need to learn the meaning of the word restraint." Yagi-san said with a smile.
"Um... Don't you think that's a little hypocritical coming from you?" Izuku asked.
-000-
The next day, Izuku found himself in front of the gates of U.A. High School. Despite having lived in Musutafu his whole life, he had never seen it up close. Or well, not this close. He was literally about to walk into U.A. freaking High School!
The name U.A. was practically synonymous with heroics in Japan, and for good reason. The school was built not long after the founding of heroes as a profession in Japan. In fact, it was the first hero school, not just in Japan, but in the world. Additionally, all of the best heroes came from U.A., from All Might himself to Endeavor to Best Jeanist. The top ten hero list basically read as a list of U.A.'s alumni.
Also, the building itself was freaking huge!
Izuku just stood staring up at it in slack jawed awe as other potential students walked past him. More than a few paused to stare at him. And a couple even seemed to recognise him.
"Hey, aren't you that kid who fought the sludge villain?" A voice to his side asked.
Startled, Izuku spun around to see who was talking to him. He came face to face with an utterly adorable girl his age. Her face was even rounder than his!
"Uhhh..." Izuku eloquently said.
"Oh! Sorry, that was kind of insensitive of me." The girl rubbed the back of her head, "That couldn't have been a pleasant experience. And I doubt you want a stranger bugging you about it."
"Errr..."
"Um... Let me introduce myself properly. I'm Uraraka Ochako!" She said as she held out her hand for a handshake.
"Ahhh..." Izuku gaze shifted slightly from her cute round face to her hand. The first thing he noted was that she had pink pads on each of her fingers.
"Are... Are you okay?" Uraraka asked, pulling her hand back with a slightly uncomfortable look on her face.
'Crap! What the hell is wrong with you!? You've freaked her out!' Izuku screamed at himself in his head. This was the first time someone his age, a cute girl no less, had talked to him in gods know how long. And now he screwed it all up!
"I'M SORRY!" Izuku yelled. Causing the girl to jump back in shock, and Izuku to panic even more. How could he salvage this situation!? Right, introductions! "M-my name i-is-"
"Deku." A cold and furious voice killed the words in Izuku's throat. Turning his head slightly, he saw Kacchan standing barely a meter from him, radiating an aura of death that was this close to making Izuku's quirk buzz, "You're in my way. Move."
Wordlessly, Izuku moved to the side, and subconsciously placed himself between Kacchan and Uraraka. Holy crap, how was Kacchan this much frigging scarier when he was calm and angry than when he was howling like a demon?!
Kacchan moved swiftly past them without saying anything, giving Izuku a side glare as he did. For a moment, Izuku thought he saw something in the blonde's eye that looked like... apprehension? Hesitation? He wasn't sure, but it felt out of place considering how positively murderous Kacchan seemed. A few more people recognised him same as Izuku. But when one made a comment about it, the death aura around Kacchan seemed to flare up, and everyone gave him a wide berth.
"Um, it was nice meeting you." Uraraka said nervously once Kacchan was gone before taking off. Izuku watched helplessly as she ran off.
'God... dammit... Kacchan...' Izuku thought miserably. While he doubted that he would've actually been able to salvage the conversation, he would've liked to at least tried. With a sigh of annoyance, Izuku made his way to the exam hall.
-000-
Katsuki slumped into his seat in the Exam Orientation Hall. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm himself down, or at the very least compartmentalize his anger and save it for the battle trial. He fucking hated this. Katsuki was no stranger to being angry, he got pissed at damn near everything, but this specific kind of anger was different somehow. It wasn't just annoyance at something, it was a festering loathing that sat in his stomach and made him despise everything around him. And it was only ever directed at one thing.
So, why did seeing Deku earlier make him feel this way? It wasn't the nerd himself that Katsuki was angry at, as much as he wished that was the case. He saw Deku everyday at school and it didn't cause this. Was it because they were at U.A.? That would be fucking idiotic, it's not like Katsuki didn't know that Deku was trying for U.A., so it's not like he was surprised to see him here.
Fuck, he couldn't even figure out why he was so mad, and that just pissed himself off even more. The fact that he felt so stupid only caused that loathing in his gut to grow. That special loathing that was only ever directed at himself.
'Are you seriously going to just sit here and feel sorry for yourself? You're at U.A.! Get the fuck over it and focus on what you came to do!' His mind mocked himself. It didn't help the loathing go away, but it did make him focus.
Apparently, he chose the worst fucking time to come back to reality, because Deku suddenly sat down in the seat next to him. Even more bizarrely, Katsuki didn't feel as pissed off by his presence as he had back at the gate, which made the storm of confusing and anger in his stomach churn.
"S-sorry. I was assigned this seat." Deku quietly squeaked as he sat down.
Katsuki already knew that their seats were assigned and Deku didn't get to choose where he sat. He was about to snap at the nerd and say so, when the overhead lights suddenly darkened. Katsuki's comeback died on his tongue as he realised that they were starting.
A large screen at the front of the hall turned on, and spotlights shined down on a man with utterly ridiculous hair that looked like either a cockatoo's crest or a banana. The man was obviously a Pro Hero, but Katsuki was having a hard time putting a name to him. Oh well, that just meant that he wasn't worth remembering.
"To all you examinees tuning in, WELCOME TO TODAY'S LIVE PERFORMANCE!" The man yelled, and Katsuki suddenly realised that he was Present Mic. No wonder he didn't recognise his face, the hero's voice was much more well know than his appearance. The man shouted again, and Katsuki cringed at his volume, "Everybody say 'HEY'!"
The following silence was so deep and all encompassing that Katsuki wondered if Mic had blown out his ear drums with his quirk earlier, leaving Katsuki deaf.
"What a disciplined group!" Present Mic shrugged. Well, there went the idea that Katsuki had lost his hearing. Looks like everyone was about as unimpressed with the hero as Katsuki was, "I'll just go ahead and present the guidelines of your practical exam. ARE YOU READY!? YEAH!"
Complete silence again. Well, almost complete silence. Katsuki swore he heard a cricket chirping.
"It's the Voice Hero, Present Mic. Wow..." Deku said quietly in an awed voice with a matching starstruck look on his face, "I listen to his radio show every week. He's so moving. I guess all the teachers at U.A. are heroes."
"Shut. Up." Katsuki said, 'If you're so goddamn moved, why the hell were you as dead quiet as everyone else?'
"Listen up! For the test, you'll be experiencing ten-minute long mock battles in urban areas. You're allowed to bring whatever you want with you for support! Once this presentation is done, you'll head to your assigned battle center." Present Mic explain. Katsuki picked up his exam ticket and looked at. Present Mic suddenly yelled, "OKAY!?" And got no response, again.
"They've assigned us so that students from the same schools won't be in the same testing locations. So, weak shits won't be able to team up with their friends and cheat." Katsuki said as he looked over at Deku's exam card.
"Y-you're right. Even though our I.D. numbers are consecutive, we're assigned to different battle centers." Deku stated the obvious as he peeked at Katsuki's card.
"Don't look, I'll kill you." Katsuki growled, causing the nerd to flinch away, "Tch. Dammit, now I can't crush you directly." He refused to acknowledge the tiny part of him that was relieved.
"There are three different kinds of faux villains in each battle center. Defeating them will award you points base on their respective levels of difficulty. You don't have to destroy them, using your quirk to disable them will be enough to earn you points. I shouldn't need to explain that the more points you have, the higher your score will be." As the hero spoke, images of various Mario monsters appeared on the screen behind him, with Mario himself defeating them as a demonstration, "Of course, I also shouldn't have to explain that attacking or sabotaging other examinees and any other unheroic acts are strictly prohibited." Present Mic said. Katsuki had a feeling that there was a story behind the last rule, judging by how the hero phrased it. Also, a somewhat humorous clip of Mario jumping on Luigi's head with a big X across it played on screen when Present Mic was explaining.
Out of nowhere, an extra a few rows in front of Katsuki shot to his feet with his hand in the air, "Excuse me! May I ask a question?"
"Okay." Present Mic said, pointing at the guy. A spotlight overhead turned on, illuminating him.
"On the printout, there are four types of faux villains shown. If this is an error, it is a blatant one and is highly unbecoming of U.A., the most prominent school in Japan! We're here because we hope for you to mold us into exemplary heroes" The teen yelled. Katsuki couldn't get a good look at him, since his back was turned to him at the moment, and he honestly didn't care. The guy seemed like a stick in the mud, not someone worth Katsuki's time.
Suddenly, the guy turned around (He was wearing glasses. That'd be how Katsuki referred to him from now on. For the five minutes he'd remember the guy existed, at least) and pointed directly at Deku, "In addition. You with the long, green hair!" Deku suddenly looked very nervous about being put on the spot. Glasses shot him a weakass glare that didn't even rival Katsuki's calm face, "You've been muttering this entire time. It's distracting! If you're not going to take this seriously, then you should just leave and stop interfering with the other examinees."
"I'm sorry." Deku clamped his hands over his mouth and looked down in embarrassment. A few nearby people laughed lightly at the nerd's distress.
Okay, you know what, fuck this guy. Katuki couldn't care less that he was picking on Deku, but he was obviously a tight-assed dickbag. Gods, Katsuki hoped he wouldn't get stuck in the same class as Glasses. Actually, Glasses wasn't a derogatory enough name for the guy, from now on he's be known as four-eyed hardassed Bitch (Four Eyes for short).
"Okay, okay. Thank you, examinee number 7111. Very diligent of you." Present Mic said, "I assure you it was not a mistake, I was just waiting for the proper dramatic timing to explain the fourth type of faux villain. It's worth ZERO points. It's less of an opponent and more of an obstacle, like a Thwomp! There's only one in each battle center and it's suppose to be avoided. I mean, you could try and defeat it, but there's no reason to and I don't recommend it."
"Thank you very much! I apologise for the interruption!" Four Eyes bowed and sat down, the spotlight shining on him turning off once he was back in his seat.
Several other extras started chatting amongst themselves, like they weren't still in the middle of a presentation. All they were doing was stating the blindingly obvious too, about how the entire exam felt like a video game. No shit! What could've tipped them off? Could it have been the fact that they used fucking Mario as an example!
"That's all from me." Present Mic spoke up, "I'll leave you listeners with our school motto. The great Napoleon Bonaparte once said: True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life!"
'-in whatever shape they may challenge us to combat.' Katsuki finished the quote in his head. It felt stupid to cut that last part off, considering that they were about to partake in a combat trial.
"PLUS ULTRA!" Present Mic shouted at the top of his lungs (Well, actually he wasn't being even a tenth as loud as he could've been. They'd all be unconscious on the ground if he had). Katsuki was actually a little surprised that nobody joined him in that shout, considering how well known and popular U.A.'s motto was. The noisy hero finally seemed unbothered by the lack of an audience reaction, and continued without missing a beat, "Break a leg everyone."
That seemed like a poor choice of words considering that some people probably were going to break somethings in the upcoming exam.
The lights came back on, meaning that the presentation was finally over. Good, Present Mic's voice was starting to give him a headache. Unfortunately, everyone else started talking, and the combined chatter more than matched the Voice Hero's volume. Gritting his teeth, Katsuki started rubbing his temples. For a guy who created explosions, he really did love his peace and quiet.
Ignoring everyone, he started making his way towards Battle Center A, his assigned testing area. This was it. More than anything up till now, this would show how far he'd come. He would crush everyone else, and claim first place for himself. Katsuki wouldn't settle for anything less than absolute victory.
That was the only way he could prove to everyone that he wasn't fucking weak. That was the only way he could prove to himself that he wasn't weak.
-000-
As Tenya got off the bus, he took a brief moment to marvel at the massive mock city in front of him. U.A. was every bit as impressive as Tensei had made it out to be. Just a single mock city of this magnitude would be impressive, but U.A. had a dozen of them. No wonder they needed to take a bus to get travel around the campus.
The first thing Tenya did once he was off the bus was some stretches. He had gone through a rigorous training regimen to prepare for U.A., and one of the most valuable things he learned was the importance of stretching. It certainly wouldn't do if he suddenly got a cramp in his legs in the middle of battle.
However, while he may have been focused on stretching, he still made a point to look over the other examinees. They were competition, and while he wasn't going up against them directly, he still felt the need to scope them out. That, and there was one in particular who he was worried about...
And it seems his instincts were correct, since the green-haired boy was walking directly towards one girl who was in the middle of some kind of mediation. The nerve of that boy! First, he was making a ruckus during the presentation, and now he was about to interrupt another examinee's preparation!
Stopping his stretching, Tenya swiftly made his way over to the troublemaker. He grabbed the other teen's shoulder, and the boy spun around with a startled noise, 'Seems like he has terrible situational awareness. That's unacceptable for a hero!'
"That girl is obvious focusing right now, yet you were about to interrupt her. Why are you even here? Are you just taking the entrance exam to interfere with everyone else?" Tenya said out loud. He looked the boy up and down. This was the first time he got a good look at him, the Orientation Hall had been too dark and he was too far away before. The other teen was a good deal shorter than Tenya, though that wasn't uncommon. His green hair came down to his shoulders. Despite its length, he obviously did nothing to style or even comb it. As a result, his whole appearance came off as sloppy, "Wait a moment. I know you from somewhere..."
The troublemaker fidgeted nervously. The examinees noticed that something was going on, and were watching the pair. It seemed that Tenya wasn't the only who recognised the green-haired teen, since several of them were pointing at him and talking amongst themselves.
"You're Midoriya! From the sludge villain incident." Tenya said in a moment of realisation. Midoriya looked away with an embarrassed look on his face. It changed to a look of shock at Tenya's next words, "It figures a delinquent like you would try to sabotage his competition."
"D-DELINQUENT?!" Midoriya half yelled, half squeaked in a tone equal parts scandalised and horrified, "Wha- How- Why-?!"
"I'm surprised you're even here. Vigilantism is a criminal offense, only one step away from villainy. Surely U.A. wouldn't accept such an individual into their school." Tenya said. What was this kid even doing here? There's no way he could have snuck in or-
"START!" Present Mic-sensei's voice rang out from somewhere above and behind them, snapping Tenya from his thoughts. Everyone else seemed to be equally as startled, "What's wrong!? There are no countdowns in real fights! Get going! The die is cast!"
Immediately, Tenya broke into a run.
Drat! He was near the back of the group, and he couldn't use his quirk right now or he'd run his fellow examinees over! Until they started to break off, he was stuck trailing behind, he thought bitterly.
A shadow passed over him. Looking up, he saw Midoriya sailing over the group's heads. He hit the ground in front of them and rolled into a run, losing none of his momentum. Then, the building next to him exploded outwards as a One-Pointer crashed through the wall out into the streets.
"TARGET-LOCKED! PREPARE-TO-BE-DESTROYED!" The robot cried out and lunged towards Midoriya.
It was ripped in half before it even got close to him. While the lower half crashed to the ground, the machine's upper half hovered in the air while Midoriya looked around. He shouted and pointed at a Two-Pointer that just turned the corner. Without warning, the One-Pointer's torso flew at high speeds towards the Two-Pointer, crashing into and destroying it.
They weren't even half a minute into the exam, and Midoriya had already claimed a definite lead. Scowling, Tenya activated his quirk, the path now clear enough to use it.
He had come to U.A. to become a model hero, just like his brother Tensei. And now, a troublemaking delinquent, a criminal! was ahead of him. He wouldn't stand for it! He'd show them what a true hero was made of!
Gods, why do almost all of the BNHA characters have multiple spellings for their names. Okay, I know why, but it's still frustrating.
Fun fact, those Mario references were in the original manga. Sadly, they were removed from the anime, presumably for copyright reasons.
Also, looking back, the whole scene with the presentation from Bakugou's POV feels kind of superfluous. It's basically just a copy of the scene from canon but with some of Bakugou's thoughts added in. Unfortunately, by the time I realised that, I had already finished writing the scene, so...
I actually found Iida to be really unlikable when he first showed up in the series. He got way better, but he was kind of an asshole during the entrance exam, so I tried to copy that. I hope I didn't make him too unlikable.
If anyone's confused why Izuku has long hair, it's because he's growing it out to cover his injured ear. It was mentioned before, but tiny details like that are easy to miss, especially when a character has an established look like Izuku does.
VladImpaler: Stand stats are confusing. When I was trying to figure out how strong Holding Out should be, I kept thinking about there scene where Gold Experience, a Stand with a C in strength, sent cars flying several meters into air with its punches (It was just before the Baby Face fight, if you were wondering when that happened). I figured that as long as Holding Out didn't do anything too much crazier than that, it would be fine. As for its speed, I'll try to do better in the future. I might be able to justify it as Izuku was suppressing his Stand's strength or he wasn't used to fighting with it.